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By Matt Badcock
THERE would have been a lot of smiling faces at Boreham Wood on Monday night
when Sorba Thomas came off the Wales bench to make his World Cup debut.
It's the latest chapter in a remarkable rise for the former National League attacker,
who is now starring in the Championship for Huddersfield Town.
It wasn't all that long ago the 23-year-old was one of Wood's most important
players having come through their academy - he regularly returns to give talks to
the next generation of hopeful young footballers.
"I genuinely think there is a fine line between arrogance and confidence," Garrard
told me last week. "If you're an elite athlete you've got to walk along that line.
Sorba does that. He has the confidence in his ability and the arrogance to deliver
on it. You see that in his game. That's why he's got his call-up for Wales.
"He's got Premier League pace. We've always spoken about that. And he's added
to his game, hugely. With us he was always developing. We got him on the
coaching side of things so his off-the-field stuff - the tough conversations dropping
players in the U19s, people knocking on his door because they're not playing on a
Wednesday, these are things he grew off the pitch which definitely helped him grow
on the pitch.
"I went and watched him in the play-off final last year. I was sat with his friends and
family. I don't think I've been as nervous as that for a game I've been involved in,
let alone someone else. Because it was like watching someone you've brought up.
Now he's going to the World Cup."
He's not the only former Boreham Wood youngster out in Qatar. Sheffield United's
Iliman Ndiaye is in the Senegal squad and his rise also has Garrard beaming.
"We went to the PGMOL tournament three years ago where they were using VAR
prior to rolling it out, and he scored a goal like Maradona," Garrard says.
"We knew he had a special talent. Obviously he's gone off to Sheffield United and
he's with Senegal now.
"It's very similar routes (to Sorba). We were fortunate he landed on our lap but the
minute he came in it was, 'No, no - this one is special'."
Of course there are plenty of other former Non-League players at this World Cup.
Thomas' team-mate Kieffer Moore turned the game in Wales' favour when he came
off the bench. The striker, now in the Premier League, played for Truro City and
Dorchester Town before other spells at Forest Green and Torquay United on loan.
He also represented England C in an International Challenge Trophy game against
Estonia.
There are players in the Wales squad who have played Non-League like Joe Morrell
(Sutton and Margate) and Town Lockyer, who won promotion with Bristol Rovers.
In the full England squad, Nick Pope began at Isthmian League Bury Town. Jordan
Pickford had loan spells at Alfreton Town and Darlington, while Callum Wilson
turned out for Tamworth and Kettering Town. Ghana striker Antoine Semenyo
played on loan for Bath City in 2018.
In recent years we've seen many more examples of players learning their trade in
Non-League and landing on world football's biggest stages. There is more than one
route to the top.
As Garrard adds: "Iliman was at Marseille as a kid, didn't really make it, and was
trying to find somewhere to go before he came to us. Sorba was released by West
Ham. There are success stories."
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